It was a tense lead up to the Queensland Surf Life Saving Championships; ex-Cyclone Linda had made her presence known and, like any annoying ex, refused to settle down and fade into the background.
The choppy conditions on the coast resulted in the competition being moved to Mooloolaba for Friday’s program. Water events for the rest of the weekend were moved back to Maroochydore but due to significant sand erosion, beach and surf boat events remained at Mooloolaba.
Kurrawa had some star players on display in the Masters with Kurrawa taking home 17 gold medals across the events, with star athletes Liz Crilly and Christina Nicholls each taking home four alone.
Our athletes really showed that age is no excuse and certainly no barrier with Kurrawa showing our prowess across the sand and the water. Special mention to Peter Allison for winning the 70+ Male Beach Flags, the 70+ 1km Beach Run and pairing with Jeff Gatenby to win the 70+ Male Surf Board Rescue.
On the beach for the Seniors, we were once again victorious with Bree Masters, Nicole Kay, Taylor Stickler and Mali James all taking home gold for the girls and Jason Gough, Rick Cuthel, Samuel Dalton, Caleb Enright and Nicklaus Wilson winning their beach events. Special shout out to the U19 Female Beach Relay of Bethany Jones, Paisley Mullins, Lily Peck and Taylor Stickler for nabbing the gold!
Onto the skis and we were delighted to see Bonnie Hancock take home her first QLD title in the Open Female Surf Ski and Brielle Cooper and Bay Wildin-Snedden proving a formidible team to take out the U19 Female Double Ski.
The traditional Surf Belt races didn’t disappoint with Charlotte-Rose Connor taking home gold in the U17 Female Surf Belt and Callum Lowe-Griffiths also winning the title in the U19 Male Surf Belt.
The Cooper sisters proved part of a winning formula, smashing the U19 Female Surf Team event in a team comprised of Charlotte Rose-Connor, Lani Cooper, Brielle Cooper and Bay Wildin-Snedden.
The culmination of the weekend of racing all lead up to the Ironman and Ironwoman events held on Sunday afternoon. Our girls Bay Wildin-Snedden and Brielle Cooper took home gold and silver in the U19 Ironwoman and Matt Poole made a terrific comeback to win silver in the Mens Open Ironman.
After all the points had been added up Kurrawa ended up taking second place in the Handicapped Senior Pointscore, with placings of fourth in the Seniors Pointscore and fifth in the Masters Pointscore.
Well done to all of our athletes, coaches, volunteers and officials that had to be rather flexible on the weekend due to the shifting conditions! Although we couldn't mention everyone here, Kurrawa had a very successful campaign with plenty of podium finishers, not to mention the unsung heroes that showed up for training every time throughout the season and raced their hearts out under the Kurrawa cap.
You can check out full results below:
With States out of the way, now we look towards the Aussies in April…
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